UNITED NATIONS CONFERENCE ON DECLARATION OF DEATH OF MISSING PERSONS FINAL ACT SIGNED AT LAKE SUCCESS, NEW YORK, ON 6 APRIL 1950 AND CONVENTION ON THE DECLARATION OF DEATH OF MISSING PERSONS

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP57-00384R000500140003-1
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 14
• Document Creation Date: December 12, 2016
• Document Release Date: January 24, 2002
• Sequence Number: 3
• Publication Date: April 6, 1950
• Content Type: OPEN

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UNITED NATIONS CONFERENC
ON
DECLARATION OF DEATH
OF MISSING PERSONS
FINAL ACT
Signed at Lake Success, New York, on 6 April 1950
CONVENTION
ON THE
DECLARATION OF DEATH OF MISSING PERSONS
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UNITED NATIONS PUBLICATIONS
SALES NUMBER: 1950. V. 1
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UNITED NATIONS CONFERENCE
ON
DECLARATION OF DEATH
OF MISSING PERSONS
FINAL ACT
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FINAL ACT OF THE UNITED NATIONS. CONFERENCE ON
DECLARATION OF DEATH OF MISSING PERSONS
The General Assembly of the United Nations,
by resolution 369 (IV) dated 3 December 1949,
decided to convene an international conference
of Government representatives with a view to
concluding a multilateral convention on the sub-
ject of declaration of death of missing persons.
The United Nations Conference on Declara-
tion of Death of Missing Persons met at the
temporary headquarters of the United Nations,
Lake Success, New York, during the period from
15 March to 6 April 1950.
The Governments of the following States were
represented at the Conference by delegations:
Belgium Pakistan
Bolivia Peru
Brazil Philippines
Burma Sweden
China Syria
Cuba Turkey
Denmark United Kingdom of
Ecuador Great Britain and
France Northern Ireland
Greece United States of
'tr+4 India America
Israel Uruguay
Netherlands Venezuela
Nicaragua Yugoslavia
The Governments of the following States were
represented at the Conference by observers:
Canada Iran
Egypt Mexico
Ethiopia Thailand
The International Refugee Organization also
was represented by an observer.
The Conference elected Mr. Sture Petren, of
Sweden, as President, and Mr. Adnan Kura], of
Turkey, and Dr. Francisco V. Garcia Amador,
of Cuba, as Vice-Presidents.
The Conference had before it and used as a
basis for discussion the draft convention (docu-
ment E/1368) prepared by the ad hoc Commit-
tee on Declaration of Death of Missing Persons
which met in Geneva in June 1949 pursuant
to resolution 209 (VIII) of the Economic and
Social Council.
As a result of the deliberations of the Confer-
ence and of a Drafting Committee appointed by
the Conference, the Conference established and
opened for accession by States the Convention
on Declaration, of Death of Missing Persons, of
which the English, French i ad Spanish texts
are appended to this Final Act.
At the request of certain delegations the Con-
ference decided to place on record the following:
(a) "All matters not specifically dealt with by
the Convention, including the question
of reappearance of missing persons, re-
main within the domain of the domestic
law of the Contracting States;
(b) "Nothing in this Convention shall be
construed as impairing, with respect to
cases contemplated in the Convention,
the operation of the principle of reci-
procity or of existing agreements among
Parties to the Convention concerning
mutual recognition and execution of for-
eign acts or judgments or, in general, as
preventing a more liberal -practice."
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IN WITNESS WHEREOF the respective repre.
sentatives and observers have signed this Final
Act, fully reserving the position of their Govern-
ments with respect to accession to the Convention.
DONE at Lake Success, New York, this sixth
day of April one thousand, nine hundred and
fifty, in a single copy in the Chinese, English,
French, Russian and Spanish languages each text
being equally authentic.'This Final Act and the
annexed Convention shall be deposited with the
Secretary-General of the United Nations, who will
send certified copies to the Members of the
United Nations and to the non-member States
which are Parties to the Statute of the Interna-
tional Court of Justice and to any other non-
member State to which an invitation has been
addressed by the Economic and Social Council
pursuant to article 13 of the Convention.
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For the Kingdom of Belgium: For Nicaragua:
Joseph Nisot
For Bolivia:
Ed. Anze Matienzo
For Pakistan:
R.S. Chhatari
For Brazil:
Gilberto Amado
For the Union of Burma:
Tin Maung
For Peru:
T. Cabada
19/IV/1950
For Cuba:
F.V. Garcia Amador
25/IV/50
For Sweden:
Sture Petren
For Syria:
N. Rifai
For Denmark:
Holten Eggert
For Ecuador:
Wilson Cordova
For France:
Guy Deltel
For Greece
Alexis Kyrou
For India:
B. Raj an
For Israel:
Jacob Robinson
For the Kingdom of the Netherlands:
C.A. de Meijere
For Turkey:
A. Kural
For the United Kingdom of Great
Britain and Northern Ireland:
J.E.S. Fawcett
For the United States of America:
John Maktos
For Venezuela:
V.M. P6rez Perozo
For Yugoslavia:
Djuro Nincic
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For Canada: For Iran:
G.K. Grande Dr. Djalal Abdoh
For Egypt: For Mexico:
Abdel-Hamid Abdel-Ghani J. Escobar
For Ethiopia: For Thailand:
John H. Shaw Dr. Manu Amatayakul
The President of the Conference:
Sture Petren
The Assistant Secretary-General, in charge of the Legal Department:
Dr. I. Kerno
The Executive Secretary of the Conference:
Oscar Schachter
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UNITED NATIONS CONFERENCE
ON
DECLARATION OF DEATH
OF MISSING PERSONS
CONVENTION
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CONVENTION ON THE DECLARATION OF DEATH OF
MISSING PERSONS
PREAMBLE
CONSIDERING that military events and racial,
religious, political and national persecutions
have caused, in the course of the Second World
War, the disappearance of persons whose death
cannot be established with certainty, -
CONSIDERING that this situation has produced
difficulties of a legal nature which have placed
a great number of human beings in a precarious
position,
BEING CONVINCED that the solution of these
difficulties calls for measures of international
co-operation,
THE CONTRACTING STATES AGREE AS FOLLOWS:
ARTICLE I
Scope
1. The present Convention provides for dec-
larations of death of persons whose last residence
was in Europe, Asia or Africa who have dis-
appeared in the years 1939-1945, under circum-
stances affording reasonable ground to infer that
they have died in consequence of events of war
or of racial, religious, political or national per-
secution.
However, members of armed forces serving
in Europe, Asia or Africa shall not, by reason,
only of such service, be considered as having had
their residence in those continents.
2. Contracting States may, by notification to
the Secretary-General of the United Nations,
extend its application to persons having dis-
appeared subsequently to 1945 under similar
circumstances. Such extension shall only apply
as between those States which have made such
notification.
3. The persons covered by paragraphs 1 and
2 of this article will be hereafter referred to as
"missing persons".
ARTICLE 2
Competent tribunals
1. The term "tribunal", as used in the present
Convention, shall apply to all authorities em-
powered rations materue to determine the fact
of, death under the governing domestic law.
2. Subject to paragraph 1 of this article, the
following tribunals shall be competent ratione
loci to receive applications and to issue declara-
tions of death:
The tribunal of the place of the last
domicile of the missing person or of his
last voluntary or involuntary residence;
(ii) The tribunal, in the country of which
the missing person was a national, com-
petent under applicable domestic law
or, in its absence, the tribunal of the
capital of that country;
(iii) The tribunal of the place of the sites of
property of the missing person;
(iv) The tribunal of the, place of decease of
the missing person;
(v) The tribunal of the place of domicile or
residence of the applicant in the case
of an application filed by any of the.
following relatives: adcendants, descen-
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dants, adopted children and their issue,
brothers and sisters and their issue,
uncles, aunts, or spouse.
3. How .ver, any Contracting State shall be
entitled to designate for the whole or a part of
its territory one or several tribunals to which it
will transfer or assign the competence which the
preceding paragraph would have conferred on
any of its tribunals. Such designation shall be
communicated to the Secretary-General.
4. When an applicant has applied to a tri-
bunal considered by him as competent under the
preceding paragraphs of the present article, he
shall not be entitled to mike a subsequent appli-
cation to another tribunal unless be has with-
drawn his first application before judgment has
been rendered or unless the first tribunal does
not regard itself as competent to deal with the
application.
ARTICLE 3
Application for declaration of death
1. Any competent tribunal in each contract.
ing State shall, at the instance of any natural or
juridical person having a legal interest in the.
matter or of an authority charged with the protec-
tion of the public interest, or acting on its own
motion, issue a declaration of death of a missing
person provided that all of the following require-
ments are met:
(i) Such missing person had his last resi-
dence in Europe, Asia or Africa;
(ii) Such missing person disappeared in the
years 1939-1945;
(iii) The circumstances of the disappearance
afford reasonable ground to infer that
the missing person died in consequence
of events of war or of racial, religious,
political or national persecution;
(iv) A period of at least five (5) years has
elapsed since the last known date on
which the missing person was probably
10
alive, as indicated by the reception of
news or the occurrence of any other fact
before the tribunal;
(v) In the course of the proceedings for the
issuance of such declaration, public no-
tice has been given reasonably designed
to afford the alleged decedent an oppor-
tunity to make known that he is alive.
2. Only the following natural or juridical
persons shall be considered as having a legal
interest within the meaning of the preceding
paragraph:
(i) Persons who may be entitled to, or have
an interest, other than that of a creditor,
in any part of the missing person's estate
under a will or intestacy;
(ii) Persons who may be entitled to, or have
an interest, other than that of a creditor,
in any property the devolution or distri.
bution of which may depend either on
the survival or death or on the date of
death of the missing person;
(iii) Persons whose personal status may be
affected by the survival or death of the
missing person; and
(iv) Persons desirous of adopting the minor
children of the missing person.
ARTICLE 4
Date of death
1. In issuing a declaration of death, the com-
petent tribunal shall determine the date and the
time of death, taking into consideration any
evidence or indication regarding the circum-
stances or the period in which death occurred.
2. In the absence of any such evidence or
indication, the date of death shall be fixed at the
date of disappearance.
3. The date of disappearance shall be the
date of the last known indication of the existence
of the missing person. It shall be determined by
the tribunal taking into accounts facts brought
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to its attention and, in particular, the last news
of the missing person.
4. In the absence of any evidence or indica-
tion regarding the time of death, it shall be de-
dared to have taken place at the last moment
of the declared day of death.
ARTICLE 5
Effects of declarations of death
1. Declarations of death issued in conformity
with the present Convention in one Contracting
State shall constitute in the other Contracting
States prima facie evidence of death and the date
of death until contrary evidence is submitted.
2. However, the Contracting States may by
special arrangements, which shall be notified to
the Secretary-General, grant broader effects than
those provided for in the preceding paragraph
to the declarations of death issued-in their respec-
tive territories.
ARTICLE 6
Effects of declarations issued prior to the entry
into force of the Convention
Declarations of death issued in one of the Con-
tracting States before the entry -into force of the
Convention shall have, in the territory of other
Contracting States, the validity of a declaration
issued under this Convention if the issuing tri-
bunal certifies that tbp decL ation satisfies the
conditions and requirements which are at present
contained in articles 1, 2 and 3 of this Conven-
tion. However, property or other rights acquired
in such territory before such a declaration is pre-
sented shall not thereby be impaired.
ARTICLE 7
Res judicata of declarations. issued prior to the
entry into force of the Convention
This Convention shall not be construed as im-
pairing the force of res judicata of final declara-
tions of death having acquired the force of res
judicata before the entry into force of the
Convention.
ARTICLE 8
International Bureau for Declarations of Death
1. There shall be established within the
framework of the United Nations an Interna-
tional Bureau for Declarations of Death. The
Secretary-General of the United Nations shall
determine its seat, composition, organization and
method of operation.
2. A central registry shall be established in
the Bureau.
3. The working languages of the International
Bureau shall be English and French.
4. The Bureau shall be empowered to receive
from Governments or individuals authenticated
copies of Declarations of Death of Missing Per-
sons, as defined in article 1, of the present Con-
vention, issued before the entry into force of the
present Convention.
ARTICLE 9
Communication of applications
1. A tribunal to which an application for
declaration of death is made or which has initi-
ated such a proceeding on its own motion, shall,
within fifteen days, communicate to the Inter-
national Bureau the following information, in
so far as possible:
(i) Full name of the missingperson;
(ii) Names and, if practicable,, addresses of
the closest relatives;
(iii) Place and date of birth of the missing
person;
(iv) His habitual residence;
(v) His last known voluntary or involun-
tary residence;
Any information as to his nationality;
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(vii) The last known date on which the miss-
ing person was probably alive accord-
ing to the application;
(viii) Names and addresses of the applicant,
his interest and relationship, if any,
to the missing person;
(ix) Date of institution of the proceedings.
2. If the Bureau ascertains that a proceeding
is already pending before another tribunal, it
shall immediately notify the tribunal to which
the later application has been made. Such tri-
bunal shall suspend its proceedings pending a
final decision by the other tribunal and shall
inform the applicant of the tribunal before which
proceedings have already been instituted and of
the name of the other applicant. The Bureau
shall also inform the tribunal to which the first
application has been made of the application
subsequently made to another tribunal.
ARTICLE 10
Publication and communication of decisions
1. A tribunal issuing a decision under the
present Convention shall communicate its deci-
sion to the International Bureau within fifteen
days from the date on which such decision be-
comes final, whether the decision is positive or
negative. Such communication shall contain the
date of the decision and the date fixed as the
date of death, or a short statement of the grounds
for denying the application.
2. The International Bureau shall publish,
periodically, lists of all applications and final de-
cisions as well as of certifications issued in ac-
cordance with article 6, which are communicated
to it, and it shall also include therein any declara-
tions of death which it may receive under para-
graph 4 of article 8. It shall simultaneously send
notice of the applications, decisions and certifi-
cations to the close relatives whose names are
communicated to it in accordance with paragraph
1 (ii) of article 9 of the present Convention. The
International Bureau shall also transmit to any
tribunal in which an application has been filed
for a declaration of death the grounds for any
previous denial by any other tribunal of an ap-
plication for a declaration of death concerning
the same missing person.
3. A declaration of death shall not be issued
in accordance with the present Convention until
the expiration of three months from the publica-
tion of the application by the International
Bureau.
4. If a final declaration of death is under
reconsideration in the country where it was
issued under the present Convention, the appli-
cation for reconsideration and the decision which
will be rendered thereon shall be subject to the
provisions of paragraphs 1 and 2 of this article.
This provision shall also apply to the declara-
tions certified in accordance with article 6.
ARTICLE 11
Letters rogatory
1. The Contracting States shall be bound to
execute letters rogatory relating to proceedings
under the Convention in accordance with their
domestic law and practice and international
agreements concluded or to be concluded.
2. The transmission of letters rogatory shall
be effected by the usual methods. However, Con-
tracting States may also transmit such letters
rogatory through the International Bureau.
ARTICLE 12
Exemption from costs, and free legal aid
Aliens instituting proceedings under the pres-
ent Convention shall be granted exemption from
all costs and charges, and free legal aid in all
cases where, under 'the national law, such exemp-
tion or aid is granted in like proceedings to
nationals of the country where a proceeding is
pending. Indigent applicants shall be exempt
from the requirements of posting security for
costs which are impbsed on aliens alone.
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ARTICLE 13
Accession
1. The present Convention shall be open for
accession on behalf of Members of the United
Nations, non-member States which are Parties to
the Statute of the International Court of Justice,
and also any other non-member State to which
an invitation has been addressed by the Economic
and Social Council passing upon the request of
the State concerned.
2. Accession shall be effected by the deposit
of a formal' instrument with the Secretary-Gen-
eral of the United Nations.
3. The word "State" as used in the present
Convention shall be understood to include the
territories for which each Contracting State bears
international responsibility, unless the State con-
cerned, on acceding to the Convention, has stip-
ulated that the Convention shall not apply to
certain of its territories. Any State making such
a stipulation may, at any time thereafter, by noti-
fication to the Secretary-General, extend the ap-
plication of the Convention to any or all of
such territories.
ARTICLE 14
Entry into force
1. The present Convention shall come into
force on the thirtieth day following the day of
deposit of the second instrument of accession
vtr/ in accordance with article 13.
2. For each State acceding to the Convention
after the deposit of the second instrument of
accession, the Convention shall enter into force
on the thirtieth day following the date of deposit
by such State of its instrument of accession.
Article 15
Approval by the General Assembly
The establishment of the International Bureau
provided for in article 8 shall require the
approval of the General Assembly of the United
Nations.
ARTICLE 16
Notifications by She Secretary-General
The Secretary-General shall inform all Mem-
bers of the United Nations and the non-member
States referred to in article 13:
(a)
(b)
Of accessions under article 13;
Of any stipulations and notifications un-
der paragraph 3 of article 13;
Of the date on which the Convention has
entered into force under paragraph 1 of
article 14;
(e)
(f)
under article 19;
Of notifications made to the Secretary-
General under paragraph 2 of article 1;
Of designations communicated to the Sec-
retary-General under paragraph 3 of
article 2;
Of arrangements under paragraph 2 of
article 5.
ARTICLE 17
Duration
1. The present Convention shall be valid for
a period of five years from the date of its entry
into force under paragraph 1 of article 14.
2. However, the proceedings initiated during,
but not concluded before, the expiration of the
validity of this Convention may be continued on
the initial basis until a final decision is reached,
and the effects with regard to such decisions will
be the same as if they had been rendered before
the expiration of the Convention.
ARTICLE 18
Settlement of disputes
If a dispute shall arise between Contracting
States relating to the interpretation or applica-
tion of the present Convention, and if such dis-
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pute has not been settled by other means, it shall
be referred to the International Court of Justice.
The dispute shall be brought before the Court
either by the notification of a special agreement
or by a unilateral application of one of the Parties
to the dispute.
Any State may subject its accession to the
present Convention to reservations which may
be formulated only at the time of accession.
If a Contracting State does not accept the res-
ervations which another State may have thus
attached to its accession, the former may, pro-
vided it does so within ninety days from the date
on which the Secretary-General will have trans-
mitted the reservations to it, notify the Secretary-
General that it considers such accession as not
having entered into force between the State mak-
ing the reservation and the State not accepting
it. In such case, the Convention shall be consid-
ered as not being in force between such two
States.
ARTICLE 20
Deposit of Convention, and languages
The present Convention of which the Chinese,
English, French, Russian and Spanish texts are
equally authentic shall be deposited with the
Secretary-General who will transmit certified
copies thereof to the Members of the United
Nations, to the non-member States which are
Parties to the Statute of the International Court
of Justice, and to any other non-member State
to which an invitation has been addressed by
the Economic and Social Council pursuant to
article 13.
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